[Dixielandjazz] Liability Insurance...for a gig

[Ministry of Jazz]

Just wondering...

All this talk about liability insurance.  Dr Jazz is still a fairly small
time operation, though we have played for some municipal, academic and
corporate customers. We also do routines where we involve audience members
in the show, letting them play horns and percussion instruments, and forming
an ad hoc parade. I have wondered what might happen if anyone should trip
and fall while involved in one of our parades, or other such disasters that
we could be held liable for, and I have often wondered whether we need to be
insured. We've also considered renting a venue and putting on our own
concerts.

But my big question is, has anyone ever had an incident where you were
actually held liable for such an occurrence, and if so did the insurance
company actually pay, or did they decide it was an act of G-d or some other
loop-hole, or slap you with a $500,000 deductible. We all know the
shenanigans of the insurance racket. In my life I have paid lots and lots of
big bucks for all kinds of insurance, and the few times I have ever need to
file a claim, the insurance company always whittles down their payment to an
insignificant level that was not worth paying them for in the first place. I
am speaking of minor auto accidents, theft or loss of personal property,
minor injuries and such. No jazz-related injuries so far. I suppose I should
be thankful that nothing worse has happened to me. But I have learned to
beware of impressive sounding insurance policies that offer large amounts of
coverage for a variety of potential damages, but when the rubber hits the
road, they fail to deliver, or you have to sue them for it.

On the lighter side, I read a piece some time ago about G-d's attempt to get
liability insurance, and it turns out the Almighty is uninsurable because no
insurance company would issue a policy that did not exclude acts of G-d.

Elazar "I'll take my chances" Brandt
Dr. Jazz Dixieland Band
Tekiya Trumpet Ensemble
Jerusalem, Israel
www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz
+972-2-679-2537

P.S. I used to work with a friend who would bring a carload of beat up horns
and percussion instruments for kids' parties and let the kids go to town on
them without much structure. It always made me nervous because the kids
would get really wild. But once I barely managed to stop a father from
blowing a trumpet into his own son's ear at point blank range -- not a clue
that he might have cost sonny his ability to hear in that ear. And would we
be held liable for such a thing? I imagine so.